Download What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits

What to Expect
at Your
Prenatal Visits
Pampered Pregnancy
www.pamperedpregnancy.com
What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
During your pregnancy, you and your doctor are
going to see each other at least once a month for the
next 7 months, then twice a month, and even more
often than that as your due date draws nearer.
By staying in close contact with your
doctor throughout your pregnancy,
your doctor can monitor your baby’s
growth and your health throughout
your pregnancy and avoid a lot of
complications and/or risks.
Whether you’ve gotten a positive
result on a home pregnancy test or
you suspect that you may be pregnant
because you’ve missed a period, it’s
time to make an appointment with
your family physician or your OB/GYN.
Your doctor would likely prefer that
you wait until about 8 weeks after your
estimated conception date to schedule
your first prenatal appointment. After
that, you’ll have regular appointments
throughout your term.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
What is prenatal
care and why do
you need it?
When you hear your doctor or other
experts refer to “prenatal care”, they mean
the medical attention and monitoring
you receive during your pregnancy. These
visits to the doctor are usually little more
than checkups and opportunities for
you to ask your doctor questions about
your changing body and your baby’s
health. They are usually not invasive
or uncomfortable, but they are very
important to your health and the health of
your child.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s
Health, women who do not seek regular prenatal care are three times more likely to
give birth to underweight babies. Their babies are also five times more likely to die in
infancy than women who did nothing more than make regular visits to their doctors
and follow their doctors’ advice during their pregnancies.
With regular checkups, your
doctor can monitor your
weight, blood sugar, and other
changes in your body. If, for
example, you’re showing signs
of developing gestational
diabetes, your doctor can spot
this early on and make sure
that you take the necessary
measures to keep yourself and
your fetus healthy.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
How often should
you see your doctor?
Between weeks 4 and 28, starting around
week 8, you should see your doctor
monthly. Between weeks 28 and 36
you should make bi-monthly prenatal
appointments, and from week 36 until
birth, you should see your doctor
once a week.
Weeks
4-28:
Monthly
Weeks
28-36:
Bi-Monthly
Week 36
until birth:
Once a Week
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
Do you need to prepare for prenatal visits?
Because your prenatal visits will be – for the most part –
standard checkups, you don’t have to do anything special
to physically prepare for your visits with your doctor.
However, you might want to keep a notebook with you as
you go about your day and jot down any questions that
occur to you about your baby, your body, your lifestyle,
exercise, and diet choices.
For example, you certainly already know to avoid alcohol
and tobacco during pregnancy. However, if you were a
smoker before you got pregnant, should you quit cold
turkey now? Or is it better for the baby if you avoid that
shock to your system and just cut back to one or two
cigarettes per week?
Your doctor can answer all of your lifestyle and diet
questions, as long as you remember to ask them. So
take your notebook with you wherever you go, in case
something pops into your head throughout the course of
your day.
To prepare for your first prenatal visit, make a list of all medications, supplements, and
herbs you take now or are considering taking in the future. If you have any of these on
hand, bring them with you. Your doctor can point out chemicals, herbs, etc. that could be
harmful to your baby and recommend alternatives.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
First and second trimester prenatal visits
During your first and second trimesters – roughly from weeks 4 through 20 – you’ll go to
your doctor once every 4-6 weeks. Your doctor will first ask you how you’re feeling, both
physically and emotionally, and encourage you to voice any concerns and/or questions
you may have. Remember, there are no stupid questions, and no one is born knowing
how to be a mother – or even how to bring a healthy baby to term.
Asking a lot of questions can only result in more knowledge and confidence in yourself
and your health. Asking too few can actually be incredibly dangerous for your baby.
During these visits, your doctor will also weigh you, take your blood pressure, measure
your uterus’ growth and the growth of your
baby, and listen to your baby’s heartbeat.
Your doctor may also take a urine sample
to check for the presence of protein
and/or sugar, both of which are signs of
gestational diabetes.
*N.J.S.A. 26:4B-4, -5
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
Late-term prenatal visits
Between weeks 15 and 20, your doctor will most likely offer to perform a Quad Screen
test to check for genetic and/or spinal abnormalities. If your doctor doesn’t offer this
screening, you may request one. At this point, your doctor will probably also want to
perform an ultrasound to take a look at the placenta, as well as your baby’s growth and
organ health.
Around week 27 or 28, your doctor will want to check again for gestational diabetes
with a glucose challenge test. Pelvic exams and hemoglobin tests are also not
uncommon at this stage. As you enter your final trimester, your doctor will make sure
that you’re aware of warning signs and symptoms of problems late in your pregnancy.
After this, you’ll start seeing your doctor every 2-3 weeks until week 36 of your
pregnancy. Your doctor will continue weighing you, taking your vitals, and
measuring the growth of your baby. As long as nothing out of the ordinary
occurs, you can expect these visits to be the same as earlier visits.
At week 36, your doctor will perform a pelvic exam and check the position
of the baby. If he/she isn’t head down yet, your doctor may suggest some
exercises to encourage movement. From this visit until your due date at
week 40, you should see your doctor once a week to check your baby’s
size, your vitals, and your cervix dilation.
If you go past your due date, your doctor may recommend an
ultrasound, biophysical profile, or another non-stress “post-date” test
before inducing labor or performing a C-section.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
Questions to ask on
your first visit – and
a few answers
Especially if this is your first pregnancy, your
first prenatal visit can seem overwhelming. You
know that it’s only going to be a checkup and a
confirmation that you’re pregnant and when you’re
due, but there’s so much that you still don’t know!
This is a common, sometimes paralyzing
feeling, but having a few common
questions answered can help you focus
on what you need to know now, what
you’re concerned about, and how you
will feel moving forward.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
Am I pregnant?
This may seem silly, especially if you’ve missed a period and taken a home pregnancy
test. However, while a missed period is usually indicative of pregnancy, and false
positives are rare, they do occur. So, you’ll want to confirm with your doctor that you
are pregnant before you continue with any more prenatal care.
When is my due date?
You don’t actually need a
doctor to determine your
estimated due date. Just
add 40 weeks to the first
day of your first missed
menstrual cycle, and you
have your due date as
closely as your doctor can
estimate it. Once you’ve
calculated that, the two of
you will set up a schedule
for your prenatal care
based on your estimated
conception and due dates.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
What medications, food, or drink should I avoid?
During your first visit, your doctor will want your medical history and a list of any
current medications or supplements you’re taking. Your doctor will advise you on
which medications are safe and which you should avoid. While you should always ask
your doctor before starting any new over-the-counter medications or supplements,
you can find out if the FDA approves certain drugs for use during pregnancy based on a
simple grading system.
The FDA pregnancy ratings are:
• A or B – These are considered safe
because no adverse effects have been
recorded.
• C – No conclusive studies have been
performed determining the safety of using
these drugs during pregnancy.
• D – These have been found to do some
harm in some cases.
• X – These are entirely off limits during
pregnancy.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
In addition to pharmaceuticals, some of
your favorite foods may be off limits for
the next 9 months. For example, pregnant
women should avoid eating:
• Fish containing higher levels of mercury
(swordfish, tuna, mackerel, shark)
• Raw or undercooked foods including
meat, fish and eggs
• Deli meats
• Unpasteurized dairy products and soft
cheeses
Your doctor will be happy to help you with a list of safe
foods that will nourish your baby and keep you healthy
throughout your pregnancy. If you want to get a head
start, pick up some fruits and vegetables that are rich in
vitamin C and folic acid, as both are great for a growing
fetus.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
How much weight
should I be gaining?
In the first trimester you might not gain
much at all. Most women gain between
one and four pounds in these weeks as
their babies just begin to form. From the
beginning of the second trimester to the
end of your pregnancy, though, you can
expect to gain about a pound a week.
Overall, most women gain 25-35 pounds
during pregnancy. Depending on your
current weight and health, your doctor
may advise you to attempt to gain
more, or not as much. Every pregnancy
is different, and you and your doctor
will monitor your weight and your
baby’s growth over the next 9 months.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
What kind of exercise is okay?
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Office of Women’s
Health both recommend 30 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise per day. You may
want to avoid load bearing exercises, especially later in your term, but you should
discuss this with your doctor at your first prenatal care visit.
If you are an athlete, and you exercise vigorously every day, your doctor will most likely
not recommend that you quit entirely, but might advise that you switch to less intense,
stressful exercise. Instead of running, yoga might be advisable. If you are not currently
active, your doctor may recommend daily walks or light aquatic aerobics to build
stamina and cardiovascular health without
putting a lot of strain on your body and
your baby.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
What do I do if I think
something is wrong?
Ask your doctor about common symptoms in the first month of pregnancy.
The more you know, the less likely you’ll be to make an emergency
appointment for something that turns out to be quite normal. In fact, each
time you visit your doctor, you should feel free to ask your doctor what
you can expect between now and your next prenatal visit.
For example, some light bleeding and achiness
can be expected early on in your term, but if
the bleeding gets heavier or your aches turn to
sharp pains, something may be wrong.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
Is my pregnancy considered high-risk?
If you have one or more pre-existing
conditions, your pregnancy may be
considered high-risk.
These include, but are not limited to:
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Autoimmune diseases, such as
rheumatoid arthritis or lupus
• Heart disease
Women over 35 have been traditionally
considered higher risk, but that thinking
is changing as medical science and
prenatal care continue to advance.
However, if you are in the 35-45 year age
range, your doctor may still want to see
you more often than if you were having a
baby at a younger age.
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What to Expect at Your Prenatal Visits
With this information, you should be
ready for your first prenatal visit, and
you should have a basic idea of what
to expect from your subsequent visits
for the rest of your term. Remember,
you can never ask too many
questions.
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